Can AI be deployed in ways that enhance equality, or will AI systems exacerbate structural inequalities and create new inequities?
The Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI) is an innovative impact-oriented community of practice seeking to understand the innumerable ways in which AI impacts equality for better or worse. We work to empower ethics in AI so that it is deployed in a just, responsible, and inclusive manner.
View AIEI's Board of Advisors.
For AIEI-related inquiries, please contact Carnegie Council Chief of Staff Melissa Semeniuk: [email protected]
The Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative seeks to:
Build
Build the foundation for an inclusive dialogue—an Agora—to probe issues related to the benefits, risks, tradeoffs, and tensions that AI fosters.
Nurture
Nurture an interdisciplinary, intergenerational community of practice to rapidly address urgent challenges in the uses of AI and other novel technologies.
Establish
Establish a forum for those in positions where they must make considered choices and decisions about the development and deployment of AI applications.
Forge
Forge transparent, cross-disciplinary, and inclusive conversations and guided inquiries.
Empower
Empower ethics as a tool for making thoughtful decisions about embedding AI systems and applications in the fabric of daily life.
Featured Content & Analysis
SEP 29, 2023 • Article
Envisioning Modalities for AI Governance: A Response from AIEI to the UN Tech Envoy
FEB 23, 2024 • Article
What Do We Mean When We Talk About "AI Democratization"?
With numerous parties calling for "AI democratization," Elizabeth Seger, director of the CASM digital policy research hub at Demos, discusses four meanings of the term.
FEB 21, 2024 • Podcast
Prepare, Don't Panic: Navigating the Digital Rights Landscape, with Sam Gregory
Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with Sam Gregory, executive director of WITNESS, about the challenges and opportunities presented by synthetic data, AI-generated media, and deepfakes.
AIEI Team
Wendell Wallach
Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow, Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI); Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
Anja Kaspersen
Carnegie Council Senior Fellow, Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI); IEEE
How does AI impact equality, for better or worse?
Structural inequality is the result of a broad array of political, economic, social, and cultural factors. The socio-technical systems that are the result of introducing innovations into this mix have become increasingly destabilizing. The sheer ubiquity and speed by which AI-based systems are permeating our lives is disruptive of countless industries and institutions. Growing monopolies of proprietary data have and continue to rapidly empower digital elites and new digital alliances. And yet the understanding of exactly how social and technical systems interact and how to govern them globally, regionally, or locally lags far behind. To complicate matters, some applications of AI may actually reduce inequality or enhance equality in discreet ways. AIEI is working to unpack this difficult and highly transdisciplinary terrain to ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a just, responsible, and inclusive manner. Read more.
Why are we failing at the ethics of AI?
The last few years have seen a proliferation of initiatives on ethics and AI. Whether formal or informal, led by companies, governments, and international and non-profit organizations, these initiatives have developed a plethora of principles and guidance to support the responsible use of AI systems and algorithmic technologies. Despite these efforts, few have managed to make any real impact in modulating the effects of AI. Read more.
Latest Podcasts, Events, & Articles
JUL 24, 2024 • Podcast
AI & Warfare: A New Era for Arms Control & Deterrence, with Paul Scharre
Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with Center for a New American Security’s Paul Scharre about emerging issues at the intersection of technology and warfare.
JUL 2, 2024 • Podcast
Cybernetics, Digital Surveillance, & the Role of Unions in Tech Governance, with Elisabet Haugsbø
Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with Elisabet Haugsbø, president of tech union Tekna, about her engineering journey, resiliency in the AI era, and much more.
JUN 27, 2024 • Podcast
AI, Military Ethics, & Being Alchemists of Meaning, with Heather M. Roff
Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen and Heather Roff, senior research scientist at the The Center for Naval Analyses, discuss AI systems, military affairs, and much more.
JUN 17, 2024 • Podcast
Linguistics, Automated Systems, & the Power of AI, with Emily M. Bender
In this episode, guest host Dr. Kobi Leins & University of Washington’s Dr. Emily Bender discuss why language matters in the development of technological systems.